Certain off-road vehicles, including work vehicles such as construction vehicles (e.g., loaders, bulldozers, excavators, etc.), agricultural vehicles (e.g., harvesters, combines, tractors, etc.) forestry vehicles (e.g., feller-bunchers, tree chippers, knuckleboom loaders, etc.) and military vehicles (e.g., combat engineering vehicles (CEVs), etc.), are often equipped with endless tracks that enhance their traction and floatation on soft, low friction and/or uneven grounds (e.g., soil, mud, sand, ice, snow, etc.) on which they operate.
One type of endless track comprises a body including elastomeric material (e.g., rubber) in which are embedded rigid cores (e.g., metallic cores) that extend transversally to impart transverse rigidity to the track and that guide or otherwise interact with wheels of the vehicle which face the track's inner side.
A problem often encountered with this type of endless track is that, when a lateral edge part of the track impacts an obstacle on the ground (e.g., a curb, a sidewalk, a rock, an abrupt change in ground level, etc.), the track may deform in such a way that some of its elastomeric material in its lateral edge part begins to tear. Such tearing of the track's elastomeric material, which is referred to as “edge-cutting”, may cause premature deterioration of the track. For example, sand, rocks, water and/or other undesirable matter may infiltrate the track through the tear and prematurely deteriorate the track (e.g., by leading to a progressive loss of adhesion between the elastomeric material and the cores and/or other components of the track). In addition, the tear itself may reach a size that renders the track's performance and/or appearance unacceptable.
For these and other reasons, there is a need to improve wear resistance of endless tracks having embedded cores, particularly resistance to edge-cutting.